Chris Bailey - Hyperfocus and Optimizing Your Productive Time

If you ever wonder whether the various productivity hacks you read about on the interweb work or not, Chris Bailey is someone to pay attention to - he's basically a productivity hack stuntman. Chris gave the opening keynote this summer at Agile 2019. We weren't able to connect for an interview at the conference, but he was kind enough to make time for one afterwards. Chris has been running experiments, testing out the different productivity techniques for several years. You can read all about them on his website https://alifeofproductivity.com/ and in his book The Productivity Project. His more recent book, Hyperfocus, explores how to optimize your attentional space so you can get the most our of each hour of the day.

My interview with Chris is up on The Reluctant Agilist. It includes tips on how to optimize your time each day, why it is so critical to plan for time to let your mind wander, tips on meditation and some advice on what to do when your attempts at being more productive falter.

Scott Ambler on PMI's Acquisition of Disciplined Agile

In August of 2019, The Project Management Institute announced that it had acquired Disciplined Agile as part of its ongoing effort to find ways to introduce Agile tools and methods to the members of the Project Management Institute.

In this interview on ProjectManagement.com, Disciplined Agile co-founder, Scott Ambler, shares his thoughts on what this acquisition means for DA, PMI and the Agile community in general.

Making the Case for the Role of Agile Project Manager

For a long time now I have held strongly to the opinion that there is no such thing as an Agile Project Manager. There are Project Managers and there are ScrumMasters but the value systems they serve are different and at odds.  I am comfortable playing either role, but I cannot do them both at once. (That is based on personal experience as well as observation.)

Mike Anderson gave a presentation at a PMI event in New York where he made the case for the role of Agile Project Manager as a next evolutionary step. Mike makes a compelling argument and he completely changed my opinion on the topic. I think this is an important conversation that I hope will continue to grow.

You can check out the interview here. (And after you listen, please post comments - I'd love to hear people's thoughts on this topic.)